


What If The World Is A Hopeless Place? (And We're On Our Own)

by robin_writes



Series: Apparently I love messing with Felicity [3]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: ARGUS oliver, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Hacker Felicity Smoak, Ivy Town, Sharing a Bed, bodyguard oliver, felicity is 17, goth to blonde felicity, oliver is 24, they kiss but that's it, underage sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-08 03:41:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17378897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robin_writes/pseuds/robin_writes
Summary: Felicity admits to being the creator of the super-virus to the Las Vegas Police but she's let go. A few hours later she's kidnapped by ARGUS. She's paired with Oliver and they move to Ivy Town where she works off her prison sentence working for Amanda Waller. Except Waller is bad news and Felicity has to deal with the ramifications.





	What If The World Is A Hopeless Place? (And We're On Our Own)

**Author's Note:**

> I totally just wrote this all in one go. I think I'm procrastinating life at the minute. It's four am so I'm gonna sleep. I hope you enjoy :)))   
> Title from 'On Our Own' by Bruno Major

The beginning of Felicity’s life started with the apparent ending of her life. Metaphorically, not literally.

Felicity was on edge after the hack of the department of education. And she was clingy. She wouldn’t admit it, but every time she saw her boyfriend Felicity sighed in relief that he hadn’t been arrested yet. But since the hack, Cooper was being weird with her. It’s like he was disappointed in her for pulling the plug before he could finish. 

She saw him in the quad of the MIT campus. Felicity smiled, running over to him and jumping on him. Cooper caught her, wrapping his arms around his girlfriend. She bent her neck and kissed him. Cooper tightened his arms as he shoved his tongue in her mouth. 

But then someone was tugging at Felicity. She fell back, her feet hitting the floor as someone else wrapped their arms around her. She saw three large men in LVMPD (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department) uniforms pulling Cooper back and handcuffing him. 

Felicity tried to run to him but the strong arms kept her locked to the other officer’s body. Cooper was led to a cop car and he was shoved in. “Cooper, I’ll tell them everything. I’ll make it right.” Felicity called to him.  
“Do not say a word.” Cooper said before the door was closed.

It took a few moments for the officers to drive off with him in the back, and then the officer who was holding Felicity back let her go. He left in a second cop car. 

Felicity dropped down on the ground, her hands hitting the gravel. It scraped her palms, making her bleed. 

She picked herself up and watched the blue and red lights disappear. Felicity thought about confessing to writing the super-virus. They would probably take years off Cooper’s sentence and it wasn’t like she wasn’t also to blame. She stopped it but it was her virus and coding they used.

But Cooper told her not to. Her mother would say ‘If Cooper told you to jump off a cliff, would you?’ No, of course not. But this was her fault. It was her responsibility to tell the truth.   
Felicity swung her backpack over her shoulder and started walking determinedly in the direction of the LVMPD station. It took longer than she thought it would, but she made it before it got dark. 

The station was intimidating, a beautiful woman was sitting behind the front desk, typing away at her computer and answering the phone as it rang periodically. Felicity hung around awkwardly until the woman looked up at her. “How can I help?” She asked, condescendingly.  
“I’m here to confess to a crime.” She shifted nervously.  
“Follow me.” The woman stood up, and walked around the desk. As the receptionist led Felicity to an interview room, she kept shifting her eyes to Felicity. She closed the door behind Felicity and then she was alone. 

Felicity sat at the desk, looking through the mirror that she knew had to be a two-way mirror. She looked at her smudged eyeliner and wiped her fingers underneath her eyes, staining her fingers black but removing the eyeliner.

She felt like she was being watched, but it didn’t put her off. She had made her decision and she intended to stick to it.

After a short while, the door opened and in stepped a man in a suit. “I’m Detective Burrows, I was told you want to confess.”  
“Yes.” Felicity said as Detective Burrows sat down across from her.  
“And what are you confessing to?” He asked.  
“I created and coded the super-virus that Cooper Seldon was arrested today for using to hack the department of education.” She explained.  
“You’re not confessing to the hack, but you’re confessing to making the virus?”  
“Yes. I was there for the hack but I stopped it. He shouldn’t be punished for coding the super-virus.”  
“Miss…?”  
“Felicity Smoak.”   
“Miss Smoak, Mr Seldon has already confessed to writing the super-virus, as you call it. Unless it is found at trial that he isn’t the creator, you are free to go.”   
“What?” Felicity stopped, she hadn’t just heard that they were going to release a criminal, right?  
“I said, you are free to go.” The detective repeated, stunning her.  
“I just admitted to writing a code that can hack into anything and you want to let me go. You don’t even have the super-virus in custody.”  
“You are free to go.” Detective Burrows said once again, getting up and leaving the interrogation room. 

Felicity sat there for a little while, thinking that the LVMPD were playing this huge prank on her, but when she eventually got up to leave, no one stopped her.

Felicity walked home in the rain. She thought that regular protocol was to arrest someone if they confessed, even just to look into their story. It didn’t make sense.

She was cold and wet by the time she made it to her dorm room. She took a shower to warm up and then pulled on her cosiest pajamas, throwing on a zipper over the top. 

There wasn’t really a lot she could do. Cooper was in jail awaiting trial and she was still at MIT. Felicity felt useless. She crawled into bed, climbing under the covers and she was sound asleep in minutes.

It wasn’t long at all until a loud bang woke her up. Felicity sprang from the bed and saw five people dressed all in black with their faces covered. “Who are you?” She asked, putting her fists up as if she stood a chance if they came for a fight. She didn’t, but they didn’t either. 

The person in the middle moved forward and swiped her up before she could think to react. Felicity was dangling over the guy’s shoulder. She felt a pinprick to her neck, and then lights out. 

She was groggy. Her limbs felt heavier than usual. And it was more difficult to open her eyes than it normally was. But when she did get her eyes open, Felicity saw that she was lying on a bed, except it wasn’t her bed.

Felicity was in a cell. She was lying on a plain mattress in a small room that was walled off on three sides. On the fourth there were bars. Maybe they had some special operatives team come to bring her to jail instead of risking taking her in from the station. Although that made even less sense than them letting her go.

The grey zipper was still wrapped around her shoulders, covering her sushi pajamas. But her feet were bare and cold. Felicity sat up, leaning against the corner where the walls met and pulled her knees up to her chin. She covered her legs and feet with the hoodie. It was slightly warmer. Maybe she could find someone to turn up the thermostat.

“Hey!” Felicity called out. “Hey! I’m awake. And I’m cold. And I want to know when breakfast is. Or lunch if I’ve missed breakfast. It feels like I’ve missed breakfast.” Her words were greeted by silence.

That was until a well dressed black lady appeared on the other side of the bars. “Hello Miss Smoak.” She said. Felicity examined her, taking in her formal blouse and pencil skirt and her slicked back ponytail.  
“Who are you? Where am I?”  
“My name is Amanda Waller. I am head of a security firm called ARGUS. You are in one of ARGUS’s headquarters, in the prison wing.”  
“So not actual jail then?” Felicity asked, her brain whirring.  
“No. This is my way of keeping you from jail. I actually have a proposition for you.”  
“Umm, no thanks.” She said without thinking. There was something off about Amanda Waller.  
“Hear me out. You will be on record for the creation of the super-virus and Cooper Seldon’s prison sentence will be lowered significantly. But instead of spending your time in prison, you will be working for me.”  
“And what exactly would I be doing if I accept your arrangement?” Felicity asked, curious.  
“Hacking. I have the right to use your particular set of talents for the duration of your prison sentence.”  
“That’s it? No prison?”  
“No prison.”  
“And Cooper goes free?”  
“No, Cooper Seldon will serve time for his attack on the department of education but it will be much less time than it would be otherwise.”  
“Fine. I’m in.” Felicity said without hesitation. This was the best deal she was going to get.  
“Great. You’ll be transported in a few hours once everything is in place.”  
“Transported?”  
“To a safe house. You’ll be staying in Ivy Town.”  
“Ivy Town as in white picket fence, mimosa drinking Ivy Town?”  
“Yes.”  
“Wow, my prison will be fancy.” Felicity said, her lips upturning.

Amanda Waller left Felicity alone.

The transport came in the form of two muscular men and a moving van.

Felicity is escorted out of her cell by a large man who introduced himself as Digg. “I’ll be your mission liaison, Miss Smoak.” He said as he unlocked the cell door.  
“Call me Felicity.”  
“Well then Felicity, you can call me Digg.” He smiled an honest smile at her and she found herself relaxing. She followed Digg out to the moving van. It was already full of cardboard boxes and there was a second man sitting in the front.

This man was only slightly smaller than Digg, but far more intimidating. Handsome as hell but intimidating, like he could snap her neck without a second thought. He had short brown hair, and stubble to match. He was reading from a file but noticed her and Digg approach. Digg held the van door open for her and she slid in next to the deliciously dangerous guy. Digg moved around the other side and slid behind the driver’s seat. 

“Hi, I’m Felicity.” She said.  
“Oliver.” His voice was gruff, exactly as she imagined it. Not that she had time to imagine it, but well she kinda did.  
“Felicity, Oliver will be your handler and personal security.” Digg explained as he started to drive. “For the foreseeable future, you’ll be working together every day, so I suggest you get acquainted fast. It’ll make things less awkward.” Digg said.  
“Aren’t you gonna be in Ivy Town?” Felicity asked the man.  
“Sometimes, when you have an assignment I will, but between those it’ll just be you and Oliver.” He explained.  
“Oh.” She said, shuffling in her seat.  
“You’ll be moving into a moderately sized house as,” Digg coughed. “husband and wife.”  
“What?” Felicity said, whipping her head from where she was staring out of the window to Digg.  
“You need a backstory. You’ll be pretend married.” He said.  
“Isn’t there any other way we could play this?” Felicity begged. “I’m practically a hermit anyway, without classes I have no real reason to leave the house. Can’t we make it so people think that Oliver lives alone?”  
“That’s not what Waller’s set up.” Oliver said through gritted teeth. He was also gripping the file pretty tightly. He opened it and passed her two driving licenses. One was for a Felicity Smoak, it had all of her details on it except she had been photoshopped. She was blonde with glasses, all sign of black removed.

The second license was an Oliver Smoak. He looked exactly like Oliver, just more friendly. “What is this?” She asked.  
“Your new identity.” Oliver said.  
“Nothing is different except my style.” And her age. It said she was twenty instead of seventeen.  
“Exactly. You’ll be getting a makeover when we get to the house.” Oliver said, taking the licenses and putting them back in the file.  
“Frack.” Felicity let her head drop to the window as she watched the streets pass her by. 

When they pulled up in Ivy Town, Felicity was ushered into the house with a hood over her head. What met her was a hairstylist and a stool. 

Felicity was dragged onto the stool by a smirking Oliver. He headed back out with Digg to bring the boxes in. As Felicity was being tortured by hydrogen peroxide, the two men were unpacking their new stuff. 

Her hair was almost done when Felicity noticed the boxes full of tech that were being taken downstairs. She grabbed Digg’s arm on his way past her. “Where are you taking them?” She said like the mechanical parts were people. He chuckled.  
“Your lair. It’s in the basement. And it’s a surprise.” He added the last bit when she tried to follow him down the steps to the basement.  
“Fine. I’m almost done anyway.” Felicity huffed and sat back on the stool.

Hair stripped of colour, dyed a honey blonde, piercings removed and glasses donned, Felicity headed down to see what the fuss was about.

And it was gorgeous. If a lair could be gorgeous. All the computers and monitors hadn’t even been released for the general market yet. And she could’ve cried because it was all hers, if she forgot about the whole avoiding prison thing. 

Oliver caught her awed look and raised an eyebrow at her. “You should probably move and plug everything in. I have a feeling that you’re very particular about your set up.” He said.  
“I am.” Felicity confirmed.  
“I’ll be upstairs then, making some dinner. Digg’s leaving now.” Oliver said.  
“Bye Digg.” Felicity called, turning back to her machines. Digg laughed at her, heading out of the house.

It doesn’t take Felicity long for her to set everything up and it’s her stomach growling at her that gets her moving quicker. She wanders up the stairs, following the scent of homemade chilli. It smelt so good, much better than what she’d been living on as a poor college student.

Felicity was practically drooling when she made it to the kitchen. “This is…” She started to say. “Wow.” She settled with.  
“Thank you. You want some wine?” He asked.  
“Uhh… I feel obligated to tell you that I’m not allowed to drink, legally.” Felicity felt awkward.  
“I know, you’re twenty. That’s not far off.”  
“Actually, I’m seventeen.” She said, cringing.  
“Oh.” Oliver froze. “I thought you were at MIT?” He asked when he regained movement again.  
“I was. I’m a genius. That’s not me bragging, but stating a fact.”  
“Oh.” He said again. “No wine for you.” He said, putting the bottle back in the fridge. “Go sit down, I’ll bring dinner in.” Oliver said. Felicity left the room, but heard him muttering as she did. “Fuck, I’m fake married to a kid.” 

Felicity blew out a breath and sat at the dining table where Oliver had clearly set out the cutlery already. She took the glass of cold water and downed half of it, setting it back on the table when she heard Oliver come in.

He set a plate down in front of her and another in front of him, taking a seat opposite Felicity. “So, how old are you?” She asked, trying to ease some tension.  
“Twenty-four.”  
“Oh. You’re old.” Felicity said, laughing. The tension was already easing from Oliver’s shoulders.   
“I wanted to talk to you.” He said as they started to eat.  
“Okay…”  
“About a few things.”  
“Go for it.”  
“First, here.” Oliver handed her two incredibly expensive looking rings. But they didn’t look tacky with huge stones, they were simple. And if Felicity was a marrying type of girl, those would be the type of rings she hoped to get. She slid them onto her ring finger as Oliver did the same with his plain band. “Second, I wanted to talk about Amanda Waller.” He took a breath. “She’s not a good woman. She has you under her thumb now, under the appearance that she’s doing you the favour. She’s not going to let you go.”  
“But I only have seven years.”  
“There’ll be some reason that she’ll use to keep you. Prison would’ve been a better choice. At least you would be out in seven years.”  
“But what about Ivy Town? The white picket fence? This house? A husband? It all sounds way better than prison.” Felicity reasoned.  
“It has the outward appearance of being better, but it’s another way of her blurring the lines, manipulating you. I bet you feel like you owe her. For keeping you out of prison. For giving you a new life. Am I right?” Oliver asked. Felicity nodded. “That’s what she does.”  
“You sound like you know from experience.”  
“I do.” And that was the end of the conversation. Felicity didn’t want to push Oliver, and Oliver didn’t want to talk. So they ate their chilli in silence.

Felicity found out later that with the new do, she got a whole new wardrobe. It was all very office chic which made no sense because she was a hacker. She did her best work in sweatpants and a hoodie stained in cheeto dust. 

Oliver and Felicity spent a few days trying to figure out each other’s routines. Oliver gave Felicity the master bedroom when he unpacked their stuff, so he took the smaller guest bedroom down the hall. 

Felicity spent a lot of time in the basement while Oliver did… something. Felicity wasn’t really sure what he did all day, but he didn’t bother her unless it was to eat. Which she used to hate when her mother did it, but because it was Oliver with his incredibly edible food, she wasn’t mad.

Digg came by after almost a week of living in Ivy Town. Oliver stood on guard in the living room while Felicity led Digg down into her lair. She had added mood lighting that was easier on the eyes than the harsh lighting of the light bulb. 

Digg passed her something that looked like a flash drive. Felicity plugged it into a computer and it brought up a secure line to Amanda Waller. “Miss Smoak, you’ve been adjusting well.” Not have you been adjusting well, she knew, like she was watching. Felicity shivered. “I have your first assignment. An ARGUS team has gone missing in China, they were last seen in this region.” A map popped up on one of Felicity’s other screens with a highlighted region. “I need you to hack into a Chinese satellite and find my team, before they run out of food and water.” That didn’t sound so bad, she would be saving them.  
“Okay. It’ll take a few minutes.” Felicity said.  
“Only a few?” Digg asked, smiling.  
“Enough for you to grab me a soda from the fridge?” She asked. Digg nodded and disappeared. Felicity turned back to Waller. “Oliver basically told me not to trust you.”  
“I expected that.” Amanda Waller said.  
“Right, so you know I’m stuck in the middle of this feud you two seem to have.”  
“Yes.” She nodded.  
“Good, I’ll get back to work then.” Felicity said.

It did only take a few minutes to hack the satellite. And even less time to use it to track where the ARGUS team had disappeared to. She had live footage.

Felicity noticed that one of them had a radio. She messed with the frequencies and altered her system a little, but she was able to make contact. “Hello. My name is Felicity Smoak. I work for ARGUS. Sort of.” With her words, the woman holding the radio lifted it and smiled.  
“Help. We need help. Agent check in 1-0-8-9-4.”  
“Accepted.” Digg said.  
“Help is on the way.” Felicity said with the biggest grin on her face, only mirrored by the team she watched from the satellite live feed.

It looked like they were lost in a forest area. Felicity rambled off their coordinates to Waller who thanked her and then turned off the feed between them. Felicity turned her attention on the ARGUS team. 

A few moments later, Felicity watched as the area of forest was bombed. She watched as the group of five was decimated, dying instantly. The surrounding forest area was levelled and the area around that was sporadically on fire. 

Felicity choked. “Oh my god. Digg, get Waller back.” She said, trying not to break down. It seemed impossible that the bombing wasn’t directly linked to what she did. 

Waller appeared on her other monitor. “What the hell was that?” Felicity demanded.  
“That was a rogue element that went missing to sell ARGUS secrets to the highest bidder. Congratulations Miss Smoak, you’ve just protected national security.”

Felicity didn’t believe that for a second. If they were a rogue team, they wouldn’t have been happy when Felicity told them she was ARGUS, they would’ve been angry or scared, but not relieved.

That night, Felicity found it so difficult to sleep. She kept on hearing screaming and an explosion. None of which she actually heard through the satellite, there was no sound, but she imagined it. 

When she did get to sleep, Felicity dreamt of fire and ringing ears and pain and death. All she could hear over the ringing was screaming. It was awful. She had done that. And she was angry that she let Waller manipulate her into bombing innocent people.

Someone was shaking her shoulders. “Felicity?” She opened her eyes. The screaming was still going on even though she was awake. “Felicity, stop screaming.” It was Oliver. He was standing in her bedroom shirtless in thin pajama pants.

Felicity shut her jaw and the screaming stopped. Her throat hurt like hell. “Are you alright?” He asked, sitting down on the bed.  
“No.” She said, starting to cry. “How can I be? I just killed five people.”  
“It wasn’t you. It was Waller.” He said as if that justified anything.  
“But she couldn’t have done it without my help. And I just watched them. I could’ve diverted the drone. I can do that.”  
“You didn’t know.”  
“You warned me.”  
“But you didn’t know.” Oliver said more firmly.

Felicity exhaled, realising he was right. But she still felt guilty. It wasn’t the only thing Oliver was right about. Prison would’ve been better. 

He moved to leave, sensing her calm. “Stay.” She said. “Just until I fall asleep. I’m… I’m not sure I can go back to sleep.”  
“Okay.” Oliver moved back onto the bed, lying down so he was facing Felicity. She turned to face him too.  
“You thought this would happen.” Felicity said.  
“I did.”  
“Because it happened to you?”  
“Sort of.”  
“She made you kill people?”  
“Yes.” Oliver said. 

Moments later, they were both asleep, lighter for their confessions.

The sun woke Felicity up. She wasn’t quite used to not having blackout blinds. Here she had see-through curtains which led to the sun waking her up every morning.

Except it wasn’t just the sun keeping her warm. There were strong arms around her, keeping her grounded. Felicity let herself be held for a little while. Until she had to face reality.

Felicity crawled out of Oliver’s arms, looking back at the man who seemed more relaxed in sleep than he ever did awake, by far. She smiled, pointedly ignoring his bare chest that had been pressed up against her back. And then she escaped to the shower.

Their relationship had changed. They both felt it. They were more relaxed with each other. And Felicity hadn’t stepped foot in her lair since the day of the bombing. 

Instead, she spent most of her time wrapped in a blanket on the couch watching movies. By the fourth day, Oliver felt like he needed to intervene. “Felicity?” He called. “I think we should go out, show our faces around town. Maybe go to the farmers market.” Oliver said, walking into the living room.

Felicity was curled up as small as she could make herself, covered in the throw and staring blankly at the screen. It was playing another Marvel film. She was practically watching them on repeat these days, if you could call what she was doing ‘watching’. 

Oliver crouched in front of her. She looked her age. Before he had seen her as the genius hacker who attended MIT, but now she looked like the scared girl she was. “Hey.” He said resting his palm on her cheek, swiping away her tears with the pad of his thumb. “Do you feel like going out?” He asked. Felicity shook her head.  
“Well then move over because I’ve never seen this film and I think I need to be educated on the Marvel Cinematic Universe.”

Felicity shuffled over, making space where her head was for Oliver to sit. He smiled sadly and sat down, she shuffled back and rested her head in his lap. Automatically, Oliver’s hand carded through her hair.

They had a routine, Oliver would make her eat something and then they would watch films together for a few hours before he left to make lunch, which he would also make her eat. And then they would watch more films until dinner. And then he would take her to bed. 

His presence didn’t make the nightmares go away, but he was there when they happened, and easily warded them away with sweet words and cuddling. So much cuddling. 

What he didn’t know was that while Felicity was supposedly watching the films, she picked ones that she had seen before so she could focus on something else; getting out of Waller’s contract. But there was no way. Not even a loophole she could exploit. 

After this realisation, she started to come back to the present, interacting with the films and actually telling Oliver when she was hungry. It was progress. Progress that was immediately halted with the arrival of Digg.

He was back with another job. Oliver would’ve kicked him out if they had a choice. She was just coming back to him. And there was no doubt in his mind that this one would be just as bad.

This time, Oliver went with Felicity and Digg down in the lair. She froze at the top of the stairs. “It’s okay. We’ll deal with this together.” He said and she started her descent.

Once again, Digg had a flash drive that allowed them to talk to Amanda Waller. Oliver was scowling at her the whole time. “I need you to have into the department of defence’s servers and delete a list of undercover ARGUS agents. I’ve heard intel about the list being leaked. We need to protect their identities.” No doubt another lie. But Felicity had no choice.

She nodded and started to type. It was easy. But right before she deleted the list, she noticed a note file. It was a court document for witnesses. But Felicity deleted the list. She turned back to Waller. “It’s done.” She said coldly.  
“Good.” Waller said. 

Digg pulled the flash drive out and Felicity shut the computers down. Nothing happened. She was relieved, but it wasn’t like last time when she was watching the group of people who’s lives she so drastically affected. Something might’ve happened this time, but how would she know?

The answer to that question came when Oliver was in the kitchen making spaghetti bolognese and Felicity was swapping films. The TV was tuned into the news between films. 

She froze as she heard the name ‘Marcus Holden’. It was one of the names on the list she had deleted for Waller. Felicity stepped back and abandoned her task, sitting on the coffee table and watching the screen.

“Marcus Holden and his fourteen year old son were killed in an accidental house fire a few hours ago. Several neighbours are being treated for burn injuries. Holden was ex-military.” The news announcer trailed off. Killed. Accidental. It could be a coincidence.

Instead of putting Black Panther on, Felicity decided to keep an eye on the news. She fixated on it, hoping that it was a coincidence. But of course, it wasn’t.

Lucas Belmont. Stabbed. Sandra Grey. Carbon monoxide poisoning. Pierce Spencer. Car accident. Sophie Haywood. Aneurysm.

Every single name on the list dead within two days of her ‘deleting it’. It wasn’t a coincidence. It was murder. Again.

She couldn’t deal with this. It sounded like they had witnessed something, something Waller wanted to keep quiet. Felicity turned to Oliver after the last name appeared on the news. “I need to see Waller.” She said.  
“Are you crazy? No, absolutely not.” Oliver said.  
“They’re all dead Oliver, again. I have to talk to her.”  
“What’re you going to do, confront her? I have a feeling that you won’t be alive long enough for that.”   
“I’m valuable to her. If you won’t take me to her, I’ll go by myself.”  
“Fine.” Oliver said, pushing off the couch to take a walk. 

Felicity had noticed that whenever Oliver was stressed or annoyed he would take a walk. He did it a lot when they had first moved in. 

Digg stopped by just as Oliver got back from his walk. Oliver must’ve called him. Felicity was ready. She was wearing the formal office chic she had in her closet, along with makeup she hadn’t worn since she got there. It was weird wearing makeup again, but it was her warpaint. She was going into battle. 

The three of them were silent on the drive to ARGUS headquarters. The tension was thick, but no one broke the silence.

Digg walked ahead, with Felicity in the middle and Oliver behind her. She knew they were protecting her, but the way they were going about it made it seem like they thought she was going to get herself killed.

Amanda Waller was in her office. “Come in.” She said when Digg knocked. “Miss Smoak? This is a surprise. What can I do for you?”  
“I want a new deal.” Felicity said, an anger coming out of her that she thought she had buried when she had dyed her hair.  
“That’s not going to be possible.”  
“Holden, Belmont, Grey, Spencer and Haywood.” Felicity recounted their names. Waller tried to hide her flinch but Felicity noticed it. “They were the names you had me delete, and they were the ARGUS team that was planning on testifying against you in court and they’re all dead.”  
“Maybe a new deal is possible.” Waller said, and Felicity knew she had her.  
“One year. I’m free, Oliver’s free and Digg as well, if he wants it. And I don’t work on any projects that will directly result in the death of anybody.” Felicity laid out her demands.  
“Seven years. You’re free, Oliver’s free, Diggle’s free. No murderous projects.” Waller bargained.  
“Fine.” Felicity stuck out her hand. Waller took it and shook hard, she pulled Felicity towards her. 

Oliver stepped forward but Digg stopped him. “If you ever pull a stunt like this again, Miss Smoak, I will terminate you. You are not completely irreplaceable.” Waller said to her, making her skin crawl. Felicity nodded once and took a step back. “Good. Go home, all of you.”

Felicity followed Digg and Oliver out. 

Oliver didn’t wait to get to the van before he chastised Felicity. “What the hell were you thinking?”  
“I thought you knew exactly what I was thinking. You let me come here.” She said.  
“Yes, but… I didn’t exactly have a choice.” He said.  
“You didn’t.” Felicity nodded.   
“Never do that again.” He said, drawing her into his arms. She felt safe there, letting herself take a trembling breath.  
“Never again.” She said against his shirt.

Digg had left them, heading home of his own accord while Oliver and Felicity headed back to Ivy Town.

Because of the new rules, Felicity didn’t get all that many jobs anymore. And those that she did get, she scrutinised significantly. They all fit with the new deal, no one died. Or maybe Waller was just better at hiding the deaths.

With all of her free time, Felicity decided that she needed a job. They didn’t need the money, but they did need to keep up appearances, especially if she was going to live there with Oliver for another seven years. She would be as old as he was. And that’s if Waller stood by their impromptu deal.

Felicity got a job at the local Tech Village. It was abhorrent considering her skill, but she would take it over sitting around bored out of her mind. Once in a while she would get a problem where she had to exercise her brain for more than two seconds. 

In the evening, Oliver had convinced her onto the organic vegetables train, even going so far as to suggest that maybe they grow their own. Felicity had a few small planting boxes filled with certain acidities of soil for growing certain vegetables. So far they had carrots, potatoes, tomatoes and parsnips. It was calming and gave her something else to think about instead of Waller and ARGUS. 

The Smoaks threw dinner parties for the neighbourhood with Oliver cooking. He was an incredible cook. They fit in the neighbourhood. A lot of the couples had only moved in recently and so hadn’t had time to have kids yet. Almost every house was filled with a young, childless couple. And it suited them just fine.

Oliver made jokes about Felicity being the breadwinner, and Felicity made jokes about Oliver being the domesticated housewife. But when everyone left, they would clean up and then go to bed together. 

Felicity’s nightmares were few and far between now, but she felt much better with Oliver there. And all the awkwardness was gone. It was comfortable, familiar.

And then in the morning, Oliver would wake up first (they replaced the curtains with blackout blinds). He would go downstairs and turn on the coffee maker. Felicity would eventually smell the coffee, and like she had some internal coffee sensor, she would appear with her hair mussed and her face covered in pillow creases. And Oliver would smile at her like there was nothing more beautiful in the world.

Felicity would groan that she needed coffee and he would put it in her hands, directing her to the breakfast bar. He would make them breakfast and by that time, Felicity was more like a normal human being than she had been.

On one morning, just like this, Oliver looked at her seriously over the ridge of her coffee mug. “I have something to tell you.” He said.  
“Is Digg coming?” She asked, Felicity was never comfortable with the idea of another assignment.  
“No, my sister is. Tonight.”  
“Oh. That’s…”  
“She knows that we’re not actually married and she knows that I’m protecting you for my job. But I haven’t seen her in over six months. She wants to come for dinner.”  
“Okay.”  
“Okay?”  
“Yes, Oliver. Your sister can come over for dinner. I’ll just… make myself scarce or something.”  
“No, I want you there.” He said.  
“Really?”  
“Yes.”   
“Okay.”

Oliver spent most of the day cleaning up, their house wasn’t dirty, but she knew it was important to him. He didn’t want his sister to think that they were living in some frat house, despite the seventeen year old girl living there too.

As he walked around with the vacuum cleaner, Felicity lifted her legs and he smiled at her fondly. They had turned into an old married couple.

Thea turned up at seven, just as Oliver’s chicken cordon bleu was ready. He answered the door. “Thea!” Felicity watched as Oliver lifted his sister, twirling her around. She looked like she was about fourteen.  
“Ollie, this is really weird. You in a house, in the ‘burbs. Weird. Like Twilight Zone weird.”  
“Okay, I get it.” Oliver let her go and stepped back, he noticed Felicity watching them. “This is my fake wife, Felicity.” Oliver took Felicity’s hand and smiled. 

Thea looked at them like she knew something. “Hi Felicity, I hope you’re nice, cause Ollie’s last- Is she your client? Anyway, Ollie’s last client was a witch.”  
“I like to think I’m nice, but maybe I’m just giving myself too much credit.” Felicity said.  
“Hmmm, I like her.” Thea announced before she followed the scent of food.

Oliver had set everything up in the dining room. “This looks great.” Thea said, dropping into one of the chairs. Oliver and Felicity took their seats and started to eat.

It was really good. The best thing Oliver had cooked yet.  
He was loading the dishwasher when a small hand grabbed Felicity’s. She was dragged up the stairs to her and Oliver’s bedroom. It had become theirs months ago. “So.” Thea said, shutting the door behind them.  
“So?”  
“My brother loves you.” She blurted out.  
“What?”  
“I just know it. I know him. I don’t know you all that well, but I would say that you love him too.”  
“Maybe.” Felicity wasn’t quite sure what she felt yet.  
“You should make a move.”  
“What?” Felicity said again. She figured Thea thought she was stupid or something.  
“He won’t make a move, he probably thinks that it’ll ruin his friendship with you and you might get assigned another bodyguard. You have to make the first move.”  
“What if he doesn’t love me?”  
“He does.” Thea sounded awfully confident.  
“Fine.” Felicity nodded.

It was another hour before Thea left and they could head to bed. Their usual routine was for Oliver to read whatever book he was reading for a few hours while Felicity spent some time on her tablet.

But this time, when they crawled into bed, she didn’t pick up her tablet straight away. Felicity turned to face him. “What’s up?” He said, letting the book slip out of his hand, dropping back onto the bedside table.  
“Just…” She gave him a look. 

And then she pushed forward, pressing her lips firm against his. Oliver’s stunned still for a moment, and Felicity thinks she’s made the biggest mistake of her life. But then he starts to move. His arm wraps around her and he kisses back. 

His tongue traces the opening of her mouth until she sighs, letting him in. Felicity’s hands gravitate upwards to his hair. Her fingers slink in, tugging a little on the short hair and he groans into her mouth. She tries to move closer to him on the bed.

But they end up pulling away to catch their breaths. “What was that for?” He asked, breathing heavily.  
“Because I love you.” She said. Felicity wasn’t sure until that moment, but she had never said anything truer.  
“I love you too.” Oliver smiled widely, moving in again for another long kiss that made her toes curl and warmth settle in her belly.


End file.
